Draugr wrote on Jul 16, 2012, 16:45:

briktal wrote on Jul 16, 2012, 16:09:
If D3 was instead the first game in a new IP from a new developer, people would almost certainly be less angry at the lack of an offline mode.

The correct conclusion to that statement is everyone would have seen diablo 3 for the terribad game that it is. Diablo 3's success has everything to do with its name and the name of it's devleoper.